project life | december 2012

January 4, 2013

wrapping up 2012 meant putting together all four of the last weeks of december at one time. as expected, december was a hectic and my pages did not get finished each week. and i’m totally fine with that! by sticking with my system of naming my photo files with the date and entering a quick note about the day in my day one app, i had everything i needed to put together the last few weeks without stress. it actually felt good to give myself permission to not worry about completing my project life pages in the middle of all the christmas festivities.

so i am caught up and ready to share.

week 49: writing out christmas wish lists, bowling, lights and everyday life. this week i used ali edwards’ december daily sentiment box brushes to make the believe and hello magic journaling cards.left page: i included a little something tate said (he wanted some m&m’s), some photos of christmas lights taken with my iphone and i printed an email onto a 4×6 journaling card - the email i received from becky higgins telling me i had been chosen for the 2013 project life creative team.right page: tate has been into the paul frank monkey lately so i took some of his monkey christmas stickers and made a little journaling card. (see the monkey on his shirt in the santa hat photo too?) a little instagram photo and story about how tate likes to take the ornaments off of our tree and a funny photo of how quinn likes to sit on mark’s back.week 50: rudolph quinn at preschool and christmas crafting this week. the merry and bright card was made using ali edwards’ december daily sentiment box brushes.left page: i love how tate says christmas and put it on a journaling card. (i also have video of him saying this too.) there are red + green christmas goldfish crackers, my cookie helpers and a photo of where stiller the elf sits everyday watching over the boys.right page:our finished cookies, pine cone christmas tree crafting, a funny thing quinn said, a make-shift apron and an instagram collage from this week.i could not let this week pass and not acknowledge the events that occurred at sandy hook elementary school. i found this quote card that cathy zielske used in her december daily and shared on her blog. i wanted to keep the design simple and in line with my white background, so i used the same quote and made a 4×6 card in photoshop.week 51: the big reveal of the new creative team this week on becky’s blog, our santa visit, christmas bowling and my little duck.left page: i love that our local bass pro shops allows you to take your own photos of santa. and i’m happy that tate did not scream + cry this year. he was not thrilled when mark put him on santa’s lap, but the candy cane that santa gave him helped distract him long enough for a few photos. i also included photos of our trip to the bowling alley. the boys wore their santa hats and we called it “christmas bowling”. and an iphone photo with a lifelong friend in town for the holidays.a few journaling cards from this week… an iphone photo of my sad little boy and who did not want me to go out without him, a christmas edition of what tate is saying right now and a santa journaling card made with ali edwards’ december daily sentiment box brushes.right page: i wanted to document the big reveal of the new creative team, so i made a simple card with the new logo and photos of me that are on the blog. quinn’s duck costume and trip to the preschool play are documented as well as a little note from becky and my weekly instgram photo collage.this is a sweet thing quinn said and some photos of the project life childhood mini-kit that becky sent me so that i could make some pages for quinn (see my pages here) and a photo of my desk while working with the beautiful cards from the childhood mini-kit: bridegport edition.week 52: christmas week and there are lots of photos. this week was 8 days long because i made my week monday, december 24th through monday, december 31st so that would end my year nicely. and i could begin 2013 on january 1st. i just love when my dates don’t get split up.

left side: christmas photos, a star journaling card made with ali edwards’ december daily sentiment box brushes and a white 4×6 journaling card with merry christmas in amelie font.right side: more christmas photos and lots of instagram photos this week so i used two of my instagram photo collages. and since there were a few things happening this week other than christmas eve and christmas day, i included some small 3×4 journaling cards from a girls night out, quinn’s favorite christmas gift, tate decorating cookies at a party and new year’s eve.bonus insert: the daily adventures of our elf on the shelf, stiller the elf. i took a photo of him every night involved in some sort of antics. because the photos were taken at night and the lighting was horrible, i just used my iphone and processed them with instagram. they are not the best quality by any stretch of the imagination, but the boys loved waking up every morning to see where stiller was. it was important for me to document this part of our month – even if the photos weren’t perfect. i used my regular design a photo pocket pages and printed them on 4×6 cards using a template that i created.left side:days 1 through 12right side: days 13 through 24and a closer look at the cards…

Annette -I have some serious love for your Project Life pages! : ) Congratulations on being selected as part of the 2013 Creative Team! I’ll look forward to following along!

Sheri-Tracy, these are AMAZING! I can see why Becky & team selected you for the Creative Team!! Good luck It’s an amazing experience, one that for me will go down as one of the best experiences ever!

I love how you documented the adventures of your elf! So clever! I pinned it for this year when our elf, Timmy arrives back from the North Pole!

All the best in 2013

Em -Your layouts are really lovely. I love the white, clean, simple look but especially how you always use the same fonts, templates, etc. It makes things look really harmonious which is definitely something I’m looking for in my albums for 2013.

BTW, what are the names of the two fonts you use? I particularly like the cursive one.

Christie-Thanks for sharing your pages. They are amazing! So clean with the focus on the photos…I’m definitely keeping that in mind for my projects this year.

Christie

michelle -I love that you are blogging PL so thoroughly this year. I keep sending people here to read your blog as person after person keeps asking me about PL.

Jacqueline R -I am SO excited to see you on the creative team this year! Can’t wait to see more of your beautiful pages .

Could you share what fonts you used on these pages, particularly the two used on the 3×4 “christmas isn’t about getting, it is about being with your family” card. I love the combination!

Lauren-congratulations on being selected for 2013 project life team! I love your layouts, too, really clean and fun!

Jo -I love your pages and am really inspired by you! Can’t wait to see more of your pages for 2013! I too would love to know what fonts you are using. Love them!

Katy -I really need to go back through all your PL posts, but just a couple of questions:

*Did you design your own week in review card? I think I could make my own in photoshop, but if you had a template you bought, I’d love to know where that is as well:) I think I really like the idea of doing a week in review for this year instead of feeling like i need to have a journaling card for each day (like I did for 2011 b/c I was trying to do a picture-a-day). This past year and into 2013 I haven’t been as militant about that. I supposed if I have a really light week for picutres, I could do two weeks in review.

*I’ve checked your blog recently before and I think it just now dawned on me that you buy the album, the page protectors, and plain white cards that you then print on. Ah! If I don’t want to worry about getting a complete kit, sounds like this is the simplest way to really get the basics and not worry about what kit to get (I’ve purchased and used two of the actual kits before).

*Do you use any special templates for putting 4 or 6 pictures on a single 4×6? Again, I can usually just do this myself in photoshop without a template, but it seems so much faster with one!

Sorry this long, rambling comment! I really enjoy your simple, beautiful inspiration. With a new baby girl (#3) coming any day now, I want my album and memory keeping to be EASY, SIMPLE, and did I mention EASY?:) Thanks!

Fiona-Fantastic pages! I love all the elf adventures and all the white space. Such a cute Christmas quote, too!

Katy -Okay, it’s me again! I couldn’t help myself and had to take time right now to read back through on some of your old posts and 1) I found the link to the templates you use for multiple photos on a 4×6, and 2)I’m convinced: I’m going to do a regular PL album this year (was thinking of doing digital) and just get PP and white cards like you’ve done. I can add other colorful cards here and there, but I like simple and clean and often photos are plenty colorful enough for me anyway. And I knew I’d miss the random adding of ticket stubs/notes, etc if I went digital, so I just need to stick with my regular album I guess!

Again, thanks for the inspiration and great, simple ideas!!

Helen -Love your PL Tracy. Seriously inspiring

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hello... i'm tracy. photographer, teller of stories and family documentarian. and right here is where i share little bits + pieces of my life.